Cultivate Gratitude in Life

Cultivate Gratitude in Life

When we are little our parents are frequently reminding us to say thank you, whether it is for the lollipop given by a friendly cashier, or a birthday gift from grandma and grandpa, they encourage us to remember our manners.

Having a grateful spirit doesn’t come naturally, it seems so much easier to grumble and complain and even when we remember to say than you often they are just words without the heart of gratitude.

I want to cultivate a heart of gratitude. Not just saying thank you for sweet surprises and gifts from family or friends but being grateful to the Lord throughout the moments of my day.

I am finding that in choosing to be more present, I am recognizing more gifts in my day-to-day life. It is often easy to be grateful about large awesome gifts but the less obvious we frequently miss.

This week we had some snow, I woke up to see my yard look like a beautiful winter wonderland. The tree branches were covered with snow. The ground was white, and the snowflakes continued to fall adding to the inches that were down. I went out to shovel in the cool crisp air and marveled at the beauty of it all. I said “thank you” to the Lord. I thought, if snowflakes were blessings, I suddenly had become rich, but my thinking was wrong. The Lord showers me with many blessings everyday they just are not always as visible as the snow blanketing the ground. I miss them in my busyness. There is so much to be thankful for.

The Bible is filled with verses giving words for our thanks. Some of my favorites are:

1 Chronicles 16:39 “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Psalm 9:1 “I will give thanks to you LORD, with all my heart, I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”

Psalm 107:8-9 “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

The themes for giving thanks that we see here are for

the Lord’s goodness

the Lord’s love

the Lord’s wonderful deeds

the Lord’s meeting our needs

the Lord victory through Jesus

good things

God’s grace

Think about how the Lord has shown His goodness and His love to you? What wonderful deeds has He done on your behalf? How has He met your needs? How has He given you victory through Jesus? What good things has He given you ? How has He been gracious unto you? I don’t know about you but just thinking about the answers to these question leads me to quite a list of reasons for thanksgiving.

I am realizing being thankful is something you have to be intentional about. This year I am choosing to do just that. I began highlighting verses in my Bible that spoke of thankulness. I also am keeping a gratitude journal, although, honestly, I am more consistent some days than others. It is also my hope to be more spontaneous with saying thank you to the Lord and others throughout my days. I am often not very observant, my husband will do something and two weeks later I will make mention that it got done, and then he will tell me it was done days ago. I want to do better with that.

It truly is the little things in life that matter, like the unexpected text from a friend or a call from my husband. Or the time taken to share lunch with a friend you rarely see. There is so much to say thank you for.

There are so many little things that can go unnoticed because we are focused on expectation of greater things. or because the negative things in life seem to loom larger than the positives that seem more trivial.

But taking time to thank the Lord for the gifts He bestows on us as well as thanking those around me is something I want to work on in 2018.

Is cultivating gratitude something that you are doing this year? Please share what is helping you.

I tried to keep a gratitude log for a few months, but I was mostly sporadic in filling it. Some days it felt forced to complete it. I think this is something I need to try again. I’m currently working on being more present – “undistracted and undivided” – is what I’m working towards. I agree so much that the more present we are in our lives, the more we see the small things to be grateful for. Also, I heard somewhere that not only do we thank the person but also thank God for it too. Recognizing that all good things come from God. This has been a big game changer for me. Helping me see His constant connection and movement in my life.

Thank you so much for sharing with us at the Live Life Well Link Up. 🙂